In planning a 100 to 200 seat pre-show theater for an exhibits gallery we
are evaluating options other than 35mm slide projection. 35mm slide is high
maintenance, expensive to program, and can be clunky.

Possible options would seem to be 35mm and 70mm motion picture film, high
definition television projection, and regular video projection. I have ruled
out "video wall" because it is like looking through a lattice.

While I would love to go with 35mm or 70mm motion picture, the cost of a
theater with projector and hardware seems to be in the $1.5-$2 million range
for a 150-200 seater. The film, they tell me, would cost $100,000 to
$150,000 per running minute, or $1-1.5 million per 10 minutes! The vendor
has us confused with Disneyworld.

HD T.V. seems to be about the same pickle. An HD projector would be $500,000
and up plus the cost of the HD videodisc or videotape unit at another
$200,000 or so. The production could be $10,000 per running minute or more.
And, they warn, the standards are not agreed upon, could change, and
obsolete the theater the way Sony Beta is now extinct for home use.

What do you think? Does anyone have any different experience or cost
factors/vendors for preshow theaters?
----------------------
Byron Johnson, Director
Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum
P.O. Box 2570
Waco, Texas 76702-2570
E-Mail: [log in to unmask]
Phone: 817-750-8631
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"...Unless a people are educated and enlightened it is idle
to expect the continuance of civil liberty or the capacity
for self-government."   - Texas Declaration of Independence,  March 2, 1836.